Sanctuary
by WizardsGirl
Summary: Junior Deputy Maddison Grey was many things, but, at the moment? She was seriously just infuriatingly, disbelievingly, OFFENDED. Did NO ONE read the information packet! (AKA the fic where the Junior Deputy has No Chill for those who don't do their F*cking RESEARCH)


**A/N:** Because I was incredibly disappointed with New Dawn, I started reading Far Cry 5 fics again. I may even be able to work out a chapter for Angel's Wing! For now, here's this.

**Sanctuary**

Junior Deputy Maddison Grey was quite a few things at once. She was a Junior Deputy under Sheriff Whitehorse, and had been for three weeks. She had an issue with needing to be acknowledged as either helpful or well-prepared. She couldn't stand the idea of disappointing authority figures, especially those she respected. She had a reputation already as being overly-prepared to the point of ridiculous (and no matter what Pratt said, that two-inch binder holding together all the statistical analysis and information on the entirety of Hope Counties animal populations was _totally_ necessary. How else would they know that the wolverine and bear populations were getting drastically out of hand?!). She was punctual, anal-retentive, and deeply-set into the thought pattern of 'Information is Power'.

She knew her fellow Deputies, and even the Sheriff himself, respected her as a field operative just due to the sheer number of fields she had at least intermediate-level abilities in. She knew that her paper-pushing was seen as an exasperating habit that they allowed but were not that interested in, which was why she always high-lighted the 'summaries' of her usually over-detailed reports for them, so that the information was _there_ but easily skimmed otherwise.

She'd just honestly thought that they might, you know, consider _actually reading_ the information packet she gathered and provided for this shit-show of an arrest _before storming the gates_, pun intended.

"Cuff this sonofabitch, Rookie," Burke ordered aggressively; Maddison stared at him, disbelieving, before turning her gaze on the Sheriff, who was avoiding her eyes, and then to Joseph Seed, who held her gaze calmly.

"What," she stated, blankly, staring.

"God will not let you take me," the shirtless preacher informed her; Maddison shook her head sharply, reaching up and pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration as she took a bracing breath.

"Did _no one_ read the information packet I handed out before stepping on that damn helicopter?!" She gritted out tightly.

"We don't have time for whatever bullshit you're worrying about, Rookie!" Burke snapped. "Cuff him!" Maddison's jaw creaked audibly as she ground her teeth.

"if you'd _bothered_ to read the _damn packet_," she hissed out tightly. "You'd fucking _know_ that we _Legally Can't Arrest Him._"

"What the hell are you talking about, Rookie?!" Burke snarled; Maddison reached into her back pocket and pulled out the copy of _Hope County Laws and Legislation (Pocket Edition)_. She flicked it open and began scouring it, even as she scathingly replied.

"If you'd _read the packet provided_, you'd know that the Project At Eden's Gate group owns a lot of acreage and a total of four major Compounds within Hope County," she ground out angrily. "You'd know that the Project had, as of last fall, been recognized by the State of Montana as a genuine Religious Faction, pushed through by petitions and letters of character from various people in various levels of important positions. You would have _known_ that, _because of this declaration_, all Project Property is considered Sanctified Ground."

"Well, hell," Sheriff Whitehorse breathed, a mix of relief and bemusement on his face.

"What the fuck does that have to do with why I can't, apparently, arrest this sonofabitch without your panties getting twisted, Rookie?!" Burke snapped crudely; Maddison lifted her eyes from her book, sneering right back as she turned it to face him, one calloused finger tapping mockingly on the page she showed.

"If you'd bothered to do your _damn research_, _Marshal Burke_," she spat venomously, "or even bothered to _listen_ to the advice of the locals _like any Rookie knows to actually do_, you'd have known that Hope County, as of June of last year, now abides by _Sanctuary Laws_." Immediately, the aggressive, derisive snarl on Burke's face breaks away into a stunned, furiously disbelieving expression.

"Are you fucking kidding me," he snapped, reaching forward and snatching the book from her hand (which, fucking _rude_) to start scouring the page himself. Maddison dropped her hands to her hips, scowling at him as he read.

"I never kid about the importance of upholding the Law, _Marshal_," she snapped. "Do you guys think I spend hours researching information for _fun_?! No! I do it so situations like this _don't fucking happen_! I research so Lawyers, like _the one right there_," She hissed, jabbing a finger into the shadows were a smugly-delighted looking John Seed stood lounging in his frankly ridiculously expensive clothes (though, he _was_ a Lawyer. He could afford it), "don't get to use _technicalities_ to get their clients out of serving their sentences! I study _every Law_ that might have even the _remotest of chances_ of being called into question for _every job I do_! That's why I provided the packets when we have group-jobs like this! I even _highlighted the important parts_ just so you wouldn't have to read _all of it_!" She cried, frustrated as she dug her hands into her professionally short blond hair. She dragged her hands around her head to cover her face, utterly _done_ with this bullshit, did _no one else do their fucking __**research**_?!

"I should have just done what my Mother suggested," she moaned into her palms. "Being a Lawyer wouldn't be that bad, the pay would be better, the hours would suck, but at least I wouldn't, _apparently_, be throwing in all these research hours for _shits and giggles..._"

"Settle down, now, Grey," the Sheriff tried; Maddison dropped her hands to scowl at him fiercely.

"I will not _settle down now_," she gritted out angrily, shoulders tight with frustration. "_Seven hours of research_, Sheriff. _Seven. Hours._ I dug up _everything_ that there is to dig up on this _entire family_, so that we would have _ample_ evidence to use in Trial. Every good, bad, and in-between deed done by _all of them_, every background check for their main supporters, information of what lands they actually own, and which ones correspond with complaints of harassment and threats suddenly being dropped. I looked into _everything_, I haven't even _slept yet_, and now, I found out it was for _nothing_ because, thanks to Gung-Ho-Dickhead over here," she jabbed a thumb over at Burke, who was furiously crinkling the pages of her book (fucking _Rude!_) in impotency, "didn't do his _goddamn research!_" She snarled, frustrated, before taking a deep breath. "Sorry," she grunted out to Joseph Seed, who had long since dropped his hands back down. He spread them out to her now, a faint, gentle smile on his face, palms up, as if he was offering her a hug.

"It is forgiven, my Child," he informed her; Maddison jerked her head once in a tight nod, before turning her gaze back to the Sheriff.

"The only reason I even got _into_ that helicopter, Sheriff," she told him tightly, "was because I was under the impression that, after _reading the packet_, we were going to arrest Joseph Seed here at a _Public Gathering _off Seed property. Upon landing here at the _main Compound_, I followed you into this Church because I sincerely believed that my gathered information was going to be used or at least _respected_, and that, instead of Arresting him, we were going to gather information to see if the Warrant was even _usable_. Instead, I not _only_ find that my efforts have been _wasted_, but outright _ignored_, and that now it was all for _nothing_ because _no information gathered in the execution of an unlawful arrest can be used in a trial_!" She snarls out furiously; the Sheriff is grimacing now, hat off and rubbing his hand over his head.

"This is _bullshit_!" Burke snarled, throwing her book at her and missing, landing it in a pew a few meters away and sending pages into the air (she sends him a nasty look). "You're trying to tell me that we have to let this fucker _go_?!" Maddison bared her teeth right back at him, pulling herself up to her full height of five-foot-seven and stepping up to him so that she was in his space.

"_By all means_, Marshal," she spat out, "go ahead, _arrest him_. It'll be illegal as all hell, especially after you've been _informed_ of the lack of legality in this matter, but _be my guest._ Even _if_ John Seed wasn't a Lawyer well-known for getting cases thrown out for technicalities and word-play _alone_, _any_ _Lawyer_ would see you laughed out of court, if not sued _yourself_, for such idiocy. So, go ahead, Marshal!" She spread her arms and stepped back, teeth bared angrily. "It's not like you paid any attention to my warnings _before_! Go ahead, get yourself a nice big pink slip! I'll be happy to step back and announce to all and sundry about the many, _many_ warnings you were given ahead of time!"

"Alright, that's enough, you two," the Sheriff interrupted firmly, stepping forward and setting a hand on Maddison's shoulder. "It's clear that there's nothing we can do now, Marshal," he added firmly, calmly. "We'll leave, re-asses, and decide what to do from there, alright?" The Marshal snarled, glared furiously at the Seeds, spat on the floor (_**R U D E**_) and proceeded to storm out of the Church with all the grace of a tantrum-throwing child. The Sheriff let out a slow breath, turned, and tilted his hat to the Seeds with a politely bland expression.

"Sorry for disturbing you all tonight," he told them mildly, before turning and gently pushing Maddison towards the door. She pulled away not even half-way there, stalking over to the pew that held her pocket-book (her poor, poor book...), and neatly plucking it up, collecting the scattered pages and efficiently putting them together in the correct numerical order. Gently, tenderly, she unfolded edges, straightened out creases, and dusted away dirt from the pages. The Sheriff waited for her by the door, murmuring to the wary, sharp-eyed Hudson as the older Deputy peered into the Church distrustfully. Maddison frowned as she double checked the book and the gathered pages.

Page two-hundred and thirty-seven was missing.

"I believe this is what you are looking for, my Child," Joseph Seed's voice murmured; Maddison glanced up to find the shirtless preacher standing in the pew before hers, holding the missing page in his hands like it was something important. Maddison murmured a thank you as she gently took it back, glancing down at it as it was briefly held between them.

It was the page on Hope Counties Sanctuary Laws.

"You have a bright heart and a bright mind, my Child," Joseph told her gently as she carefully slid the page into the bundle in her hands. "It is a shame that those who stand within the glow of your Light are Blind to it. Should you ever need guidance, or perhaps even an ear or shoulder to lean upon, the doors to Eden are always open to those who seek its sanctuary." He spread his arms out again, another mild air-hug, before offering her a smile that reminded her of sunlight on the water.

She offered a mild, distant smile back, another polite thank-you, and moved away towards the waiting Sheriff.

The thing about sunlight on water was that it blinded the one looking, and hid the dangers underneath. If all you saw was the bright light against the surface, you never saw the cold depths beneath.

_I really should have been a Lawyer_, she thought tiredly as she joined her coworkers on the long, hostile trudge back to the helicopter.

Back at the Church, Joseph stood in the doorway and watched the defeated locust flee the garden, and watched the hawk-eyed Lamb that herded them onward and away from his flock. Behind him, his Brothers and Sister gathered, keen-eyed and protective and radiating an almost-possessiveness that was only found within his Heralds, only nurtured within their Spirits.

Behind yellow glasses, blue eyes gleamed, sunlight-on-water, as he offered his worried, relieved faithful a slow, quiet smile.

The Lamb had not Broken the Seal, not as she was Meant to, but that did not mean that the Reckoning was not near.

"Come, my Children," he called to his Flock, opening his arms wide to them. "Come, Gather! For tonight, God has given us His Blessing!"

In the distance, the lean form of the Junior Deputy paused, blonde head turning, looking back. Joseph's smile widened.

"He has given us _Sanctuary_."

**A/N:** Because there is nothing as soul-destroyingly _frustrating_ as having _hours of hard work_ completely _disregarded_.


End file.
